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Farmer’s Market in full swing

Catching up after late spring

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Brandi Platz (left) and Sharon Roberts (right) work to keep up with sweet corn sales. Platz Family Produce was the only vendor with sweet corn available, Thursday. The late growing season affected all farmers, but more sweet corn is expected by the end of the month.

NEW ULM — The growing season started late, but the KNUJ Farmer’s Market is making up for the lost time.

The Farmer’s Market is open from 2:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m. on Thursdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the Case Wise parking lot..

The market opened in June and will likely run through mid-October. The market is a decade’s old tradition in New Ulm. Many of the vendors have been coming to the market for years.

The 2019 season was unique in that vendors had a late start due to the weather.

“It was a late-season this year,” Emily Olson of Regeneroot Farm said, “Because of the wet weather it took time to germinate.”

Olson said their greenhouse-grown produce saved them in the early season, but now lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers are picking up.

All the vendors agreed pickles were the top sale item this Thursday. The market saw an early run on pickled cucumbers. Both Cervantes Produce of Fairfax and Kokesch Cucumbers of Winthrop sold out of pickles over an hour before the market closed. All the vendors reported strong sales of cucumbers.

Sweet corn was the highest sought after vegetable. Sam Guldan of Guldan Family Farm said it was difficult to find enough dry land to grow in early summer. In past years, Guldan Family Farm would be selling sweet corn, but they were delayed in planting by a month. She estimated sweet corn would be available by late August. Until then the top seller for Guldan Family was kohlrabi. Guldan had nearly sold out of kohlrabi by the late afternoon.

Platz Family Produce was the only vendor with sweet corn at this time. In addition to corn, the family sold a lot of tomatoes, green beans, onions, and large peppers. The peppers sold especially well due to the size.

Sharon Roberts, a seller for Platz Family Produce said: “You can’t get peppers this size in a store for $1.”

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